The Aurora Subdivision or Aurora Sub is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

operated by

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

. It is part of BNSF's

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois, to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington,

Northern Transcon The Northern Transcon, a route operated by the BNSF Railway, traverses the most northerly route of any railroad in the western United States. This route was originally part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Northern Pacific Railwa ...

. This segment runs about from the

St. Croix Subdivision The St. Croix Subdivision or St. Croix Sub is an American rail line operated by the BNSF Railway. It runs approximately from La Crosse, Wisconsin to Saint Paul, Minnesota, following the Mississippi River. It runs through the communities of La Cro ...

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...

, to the

Chicago Subdivision The Chicago Subdivision or Chicago Sub is a railroad line in Illinois that runs about from Chicago to Aurora and hosts Metra's BNSF Railway Line commuter service. It is operated by BNSF Railway as the easternmost part of the railroad's Northern ...

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage, Kane County, Illinois, Kane, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Locat ...

. The original line created by the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

ran out of

Oregon, Illinois Oregon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ogle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,721 in 2010.U.S. Census BureaPopulation, Age, Sex, Race, Households/ref> History The land Oregon, Illinois was founded on was previously hel ...

. In 1885, the line was continued from Oregon to connect to St. Paul, Minnesota. From then on, this track hosted some of the fastest trains in the world for the time period, including the

's ''

Twin Cities Zephyr The ''Twin Zephyrs'', also known as the ''Twin Cities Zephyrs'', were a pair of streamlined passenger trains on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), running between Chicago and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minne ...

''. The

Northern Pacific Northern Pacific may refer to: * Northern Pacific Airways, an upcoming airline * Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference The Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) was an NCAA Division I conference that only sponsored women’s fiel ...

North Coast Limited The ''North Coast Limited'' was a List of named passenger trains, named passenger train operated by the Northern Pacific Railway between Chicago and Seattle via Bismarck, North Dakota. It started on April 29, 1900, and continued as a Burlington ...

'' and

Great Northern Great Northern may refer to: Transport * One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation). * Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway. * Great ...

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northe ...

'' also ran to

Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities ...

and on to the west coast on this track. However, with the advent of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

in 1971, the ''Empire Builder'' changed its route between Chicago and the Twin Cities to run on the route of the former

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...

Hiawatha Hiawatha ( , also : ), also known as Ayenwathaaa or Aiionwatha, was a precolonial Native American leader and co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was a leader of the Onondaga people, the Mohawk people, or both. According to some account ...

'' instead. Today, there is no regular passenger service on the line. However, the line does host occasional passenger trains in the form of excursions or for reroutes of the ''

'' when necessary. The main freight is intermodal traffic and some freight traffic. Amtrak trains heading westward along the Chicago Subdivision immediately turn southwest toward

Galesburg, Illinois Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical ...

, along the

Mendota Subdivision Mendota can refer to any of the following places in the United States: * Mendota, California * Mendota, Illinois, a city in LaSalle County * Mendota Township, LaSalle County, Illinois * Mendota, Minnesota * Mendota Heights, Minnesota * Mendota, Virg ...

as they pass through Aurora, but they currently (as of 2010) do not stop in the city.

Metra Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. I ...

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

service to Chicago via the

BNSF Railway Line The BNSF Line (also known informally as the "Racetrack") is a Metra commuter rail line operated by the BNSF Railway in Chicago and its western suburbs. In 2010, the BNSF Line continued to have the highest weekday ridership (average 64,600) of t ...

terminates at the

Aurora Transportation Center The Aurora Transportation Center is a station on Metra's BNSF Line in Aurora, Illinois. The station is from Union Station, the east end of the line. In Metra's zone-based fare system, Aurora is in zone H. As of 2018, Aurora is the 13th busiest o ...

, but this is at the end of a spur parallel to the main line. There was an old train station on Broadway (Route 25) about a mile south of the Aurora Transportation Center, but it was demolished in 2013, following damage from a thunderstorm. The Aurora Subdivision is mostly single track with sidings between Aurora to Plum River, south of

Savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

, with the exception of double track from Steward through Rochelle to Flagg Center. At Plum River, it is double track up until it crosses the Wisconsin River near Wyalusing State Park in Wisconsin, where it becomes single track again. The single track continues for a short distance until Crawford, south of

Prairie du Chien Prairie du Chien () is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821. Often referred to as Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was esta ...

, where it once again becomes double track to Grand Crossing, where the line becomes the St. Croix Subdivision. In La Crosse, the branch at Herrington had continued North and West to the Downtown La Crosse Station. It then headed Northeast to re-join the main at a point north of Grand Crossing where the North La Crosse depot still stands today.La Crosse City Plat map. Date unknown

References

External links

BNSF Subdivisions
BNSF Railway lines Rail infrastructure in Illinois Rail infrastructure in Wisconsin